Accountant Faces Up To 40 Years In Prison For Looting Over $2 Million from Charitable Remainder Trust of Elderly Victim

Summary

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois has announced that a Mount Carmel, Illinois accountant has plead guilty to looting the charitable remainder trust of a now 96-year-old individual of over $2 million and now faces up to 40 years on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering when he is sentenced next September.

Published in Jun 2013

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A Mt. Carmel resident pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud and money laundering on June 5, 2013, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Kevin C. Williams, 53, was indicted by the federal grand jury on January 8, 2013.

The indictment alleged that Williams, an accountant, developed a personal relationship with an elderly Mt. Carmel resident which enabled him to exert influence over the investment and distribution of her income. Williams admitted in court that he engaged in a lengthy scheme to defraud the victim, by stealing her money while she was alive and altering her will and trust documents so that he would stand to inherit more of her money upon her demise.

Williams admitted orchestrating a fraud scheme against the elderly victim where he conducted a series of financial transactions that caused the victim to lose a total of $2,087,630. He transferred the victim’s funds into his personal checking accounts, his personal savings accounts, his business accounts, and to pay his mortgage. Williams provided the victim with phony account statements so that she would believe that her money was safely invested, when in truth much of her money had been stolen.

Williams also admitted that he committed money laundering by engaging in a series of financial transactions designed to deceive the victim into believing that she was receiving interest payments from investments when no such investments really existed. Williams admitted that he misappropriated the victim’s money to buy cashier’s checks, but then later misrepresented those cashier’s checks to be the proceeds of her investments, when in truth and in fact no such investments existed. According to the terms of the plea, in addition to being ordered to repay the victim, Williams also agreed to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $106,438, to a former employer for embezzling $38,547 and to the State of Illinois for fraudulently claiming $16,174 in unemployment benefits.

At sentencing, Williams faces sentences for Wire Fraud, punishable by not more than 20 years in prison, and/or a $250,000 fine, and not more than three years of supervised release, and for Money laundering, which is punishable by not more than 20 years in prison, and/or a $500,000 fine, or both, and not more than three years of supervised release. However, the United States Sentencing Guidelines must be applied to the case and considered by the Court during sentencing. Charges not affecting the calculation of the sentencing guidelines were dismissed as part of the plea. Williams will be sentenced on September 26, 2013.

The investigation was conducted by agents from the Internal Revenue Service / Criminal Investigations, the Illinois Secretary of State Division of Securities, and the US Department of Labor. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.